Why do the Camino de Santiago at Easter?

¿Por qué hacer el Camino de Santiago en Semana Santa?

Do the Camino de Santiago at Holy Week; Better than doing it in summer?

Traditionally, the Camino de Santiago leaves its off season with the beginning of spring, when most of the pilgrims' hostels begin to reopen, the last snows disappear and the good weather begins to arrive. It is precisely in Easter, the first vacation of the year for many the starting signal for many walkers who want to make a pilgrimage to Santiago in the most enjoyable season of the year to do it, spring.

But why choose Easter to do the Camino de Santiago instead of waiting for summer? We will agree that the months of June, July and August are still the most popular on the Camino, the ones that most pilgrims concentrate, however more and more travelers are attracted by the beginning of spring. The motives? We will briefly summarize them so you can decide for yourself if it is worth launching now or waiting for the summer.

Camino de Santiago at Holy Week, which one to choose?

When choosing a Camino de Santiago to do at Easter we have several options, and although we have some really attractive thanks to the appearance of good weather, we must weigh various aspects.

The French Way and the Northern Way are usually the alternatives most chosen by pilgrims. Without going any further, we are talking about the routes with the most influx of people in the different stages. Although it is true that they may be the most striking due to their imposing landscapes, precisely the essentials of their storm make these two routes options that we must meditate on.

Peregrino | Envato

And it is that during the days of Easter the weather becomes a real lottery. You can find stages in which the heat becomes a clear protagonist, while in others the rain will accompany you during the long hours of pilgrimage. The climate, added to the large influx of pilgrims on these routes, makes the Camino Frances and the Camino del Norte options that we may be interested in at other times of the year.

That said, which Camino de Santiago should I choose during Holy Week? The Vía de la Plata or the Camino Portugués are without any doubt more than recommended alternatives if you want to get the Compostela at this time of year. The reason is very simple: they are routes away from coastal areas.

Of course, both on the Camino Portugues and on the Vía de la Plata you will continue to enjoy great landscapes, but with other advantages that will make the pilgrimage much more enjoyable. The first of these is that it is a much less traveled route compared to the French Way or the Northern Way. On the other hand, the climate is more stable when traveling through inland areas, thus facilitating the journey through the stages.

Finally, the first holidays of the year

The Easter holidays are a perfect time of the year, since many of us can enjoy the first days of rest of the year. We usually have a week or ten days off, which are perfect for traveling short stretches of no more than five stages along the Camino de Santiago. In addition, we can save some extra days to recover and return with the batteries charged at home, for example enjoying the great tourist and gastronomic offer of the city of Santiago.

Peregrinos | Envato

If you are going to travel the Camino de Santiago in Easter for the first time, you can spend at least six days traveling the last stretches of some of the busiest routes, such as the French Way from Sarria, the Portuguese Way from Tui or the English Way from Ferrol. You will travel at least the last 100 kilometers to Santiago, obtaining the compostela (a beautiful memory of your premiere as a pilgrim).

The best station to do the Camino

We have always said, for us spring is the best time of the year to travel the Camino de Santiago. In this season we will find water, yes, but it is not as cold as in winter, and therefore we do not have to wear so many warm clothes. In spring the Way is beautiful and has a very special light, the paths are full of colors and life thanks to the melt water that descends by the rivers and streams, in addition to the incipient rain.

In the month of April, Easter includes some perfect days in which walking is a real pleasure, and we are not exposed to the overwhelming hot days of July and August, which are very hard up in the Castilian plateau as in Galicia. We encourage you to try walking the Camino for the first time for at least six days and five nights, in such a way that you can completely disconnect from the routine and take with you some touches of the spirit of the pilgrim. After your first contact, you will return to the Camino with even more enthusiasm and dedicate it without fear any longer.

Peregrino | Envato

Many advantages over summer

The attractiveness of the Camino de Santiago has spread like wildfire in recent years around the world. For cultural reasons, religious, spiritual or simply tourist, each year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive on these routes and, logically, there are some overcrowding at specific points and weeks of the year. The routes that most suffer the agglomerations are the French and Portuguese Way in their last 100 kilometers and they do it mainly in summer, when most of us have more days off.

For this reason many choose spring to make a pilgrimage, with milder temperatures than in summer and infinitely fewer tourists. Within this season, Easter includes the days of the largest crowds, but in no case are the numbers for July and August reached. If you want to walk during Easter and look for less crowded stretches of the Camino, you can always choose paths like the Sanabrés Trail, which starts in Ourense and is much less known.